The United States announced its boycott plan in advance of the speech last Wednesday.
Erin Pelton, the spokeswoman for the US mission to the United Nations, told reporters, “Over the past couple of days, we’ve seen Mr. Ahmadi-nejad once again use his trip to the UN not to address the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people but to instead spout paranoid theories and repulsive smears against Israel.”
She said, “It’s particularly unfortunate that Mr. Ahmadi-nejad will have the platform of the UN General Assembly on [the Jewish holiday of] Yom Kippur, which is why the United States has decided not to attend.”